Rightmove's September index, published on 21 September 2026, contains a number most landlords never see: across Britain only 61% of homes that come to market find a buyer at all. Those that do take 64 days to agree a sale and another 150 to complete. For anyone weighing an exit before the Budget, that is the wall between deciding and banking the money.
Legislation on the horizon
- Landlord database, 15 December 2026. £65 per property per year, West Midlands first (deadline 14 March 2027), all actively let property by 14 November 2027. Penalties reach £7,000, or £40,000 for repeated breaches, and the duty sits with the landlord even where an agent is used.
- EPC C by 1 October 2030. The law is unchanged, but NRLA research reported on 22 September 2026 found fewer than 2% of landlords have registered an exemption in two years, and 28% do not know exemptions exist. The cost cap is £10,000.
- Tax, 6 April 2027. Property income above £1,000 taxed at 22% / 42% / 47%, with Making Tax Digital pulling in landlords on £30,000+ gross property income the same day.
- Autumn Budget, 28 October 2026, then the next Bank Rate decision on 5 November. Pre-Budget press speculation on property taxes is not recorded here, because it is not policy.
What's driving it
Bank Rate was held at 3.75% on 17 September 2026, but on a 6-3 vote, with three members wanting an immediate rise to 4%. CPI was 3.1% in the 12 months to August, up from 2.9%, and the MPC expects it to rise further. The average five-year fixed buy-to-let rate is unchanged at 5.70%.
The two sides of the market are pulling apart. ONS data to July 2026 puts the average UK house price at £273,000, up 1.4% and slowing for a third month, with London down 3.3%; rents to August averaged £1,400, up 3.8%. Rightmove's asking prices rose 0.7% in September to £367,440, the first monthly rise since May, yet buyer enquiries and sales agreed are both 9% down on the year and stock for sale is at a 12-year high.
The sector's size is now disputed. TwentyCi reported on 18 September that 562 properties a day are leaving the rented sector this quarter, against 495 a year ago. On 21 September the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said official MHCLG estimates show the English private rented sector passing five million homes in 2025 and still growing by about 45,000 a year. They measure different things: flow out versus total stock.
Sector movement
Development. BCIS put annual housebuilding cost inflation at 2.3% in Q1 2026, up from 2.0%, while private new housing output fell 6.7% year on year. Bridging Trends' Q2 2026 panel showed gross lending down 15% on the quarter.
Serviced accommodation. No change. England's short-term lets register is still due to be fully operational by March 2027; Wales' register starts from October 2026.
HMOs. Paragon Bank's Q2 2026 data put HMO gross yields highest at 8.90%, up 0.14 points, against 7.02% across all property types. Licensing moved both ways: Croydon's selective scheme covering 14 wards goes live on 25 September, while Telford and Wrekin has revoked its additional licensing of three and four-occupant HMOs in full after an NRLA challenge, withdrawing a fee of over £1,500.
Rent-to-rent. Section 103 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 reverses the Supreme Court's decision in Rakusen v Jepsen: for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026, a rent repayment order, now worth up to 24 months' rent, can be made against a superior landlord as well as the immediate one. An owner letting to a rent-to-rent operator is no longer insulated.
Portfolio and buy-to-let. Hamptons recorded 41,483 new buy-to-let companies in the first eight months of 2026, down 8% year on year and down 22% in August alone - on that trend, the first full-year fall since 2008. Of homes entering such companies this year, 51% were new purchases rather than transfers.
What it means for you
Selling is a calendar problem as much as a price one: 64 days plus 150 from listing, and a 39% chance of no buyer at all. If a sale is part of your plan before the April 2027 rates, the arithmetic is tighter than it looks. If you are staying, check whether an EPC exemption applies before you commit to spend, and diarise your region's registration window. And if you let to a rent-to-rent operator, your exposure to a rent repayment order changed on 1 May.
Educational only, not advice.